Hola,

Through my participation in Prospera for over 4 years, I have cultivated a deep love for this organization’s dedication and passion for its participants. I have grown a great admiration and respect for the untiring and resilient women that make up Prospera.

During all this time, I have seen many different people pass through and enrich Prospera, women and men, but mostly women. Every time, without exception, they come away with something new or leave a part of themselves with the organization. As immigrants in this country, it has never been easy to start a business given our circumstances. We are constantly facing obstacles – sometimes we overcome them, and sometimes we dodge them. We also have to rest at times, for a short or longer period, to renew our energy and try it again, in order not to give up on the dreams that keep us motivated and alive.

And suddenly, we face the biggest challenge that we didn’t even suspect… a global pandemic. Of course, the pandemic affects everyone, but once again we get in the back of the line, facing rifts that we have already walked and learned, but that nevertheless are prickly and dangerous: the language barrier, the lack of economic opportunity and access to wealth, and as if that were not enough, the risk to our health.  

However, through experience and through this pandemic, we have gained resilience and the opportunity to join forces in order to gain strength. At the bow of this ship is Prospera, guiding us, boosting our leadership and sheltering us from the storm. As an organization, we were able to gain access to resources that individually had been denied us, in areas where we had once again been excluded.

Thank you to all the people who, like me, have fallen in love with Prospera and consequently with the efforts and perseverance of its participants, who know that by sharing a little of what we have, we benefit not only ourselves but also our families, communities, and our local economies. Thank you also to the pandemic, which reminded us to go back to our ancestral memories of cooperation and community. These memories give us infinite strength and the capacity to more easily overcome challenges, new and old. 

In the Prospera community, we find our extended family, encouraging and helping us in the most difficult moments. The economic support of the Latina Entrepreneur Resiliency Fund (LERF) enabled us to meet some of our basic needs, with which we urgently needed support due to the loss of income and inability to work. Prospera gave us accompaniment in community, a wake up call to be prepared for the unexpected, and above all a glimpse of a future that still seems unreachable, but thanks to ourselves, Prospera’s donors, and Prospera we will surely get there.  

Ana Castaño
Co-founder/Owner and Nanny at Luna y Sol Bay Area Nanny Collective
Prospera Fellow 2020-2021
Secretary of the Board of Directors of Prospera